Huey Panels on an Android Tablet

Hi guys,

Just a little project I wanted to share with you all. I'll be posting in this thread as updates are made and sharing the project files here as well.

This project is being made via a utility called LEA Extended Input. That program provides a little "serve-let" application that runs on your computer and receives input from an Android or iOS (Apple) device. This can be a phone or tablet or any combination of devices to provide more than one panel at a time. (Please note, I am not associated with the makers of this software and am not trying to sell it - it's free anyway - or promote it either.)

The software is available here: http://www.leaextendedinput.com

In my LEA project, I am building 6 different panels that you can switch between and those are:

1. Center console

2. Overhead panel

3. Instrument panel - Pilot's view

4. Instrument panel - Co-pilot's view

5. Collective and Cyclic sticks

6. Miscellaneous

Each panel contains a large number of hotspots which are mapped to joystick buttons on "virtual joysticks" that are then mapped in-game to provide direct input to nearly all of the clickable spots of the cockpit as presented in the sim. To give you an idea, I've made a rather rudimentary video showing some of the functionality of the interface. This video demonstrates the lighting controls for the various internal lighting systems. You can view it here:

Please forgive the quality as it was recorded using my cell phone in one hand and operating the controls with the other. And yes it is a bit dark but that's so you can see the lighting in operation as I control it with my panels in LEA.

I'll be putting together one or two more videos in the coming days, particularly a startup video showing the entire operation (with one exception - I cannot map the IFF panel controls since they are not accessible in the controls configuration menus) done without touching a mouse or keyboard.

Once I have a decent set of documentation put together, I'll get the current build out in this thread. I've put out a very early alpha in another thread on this forum but it was a quick and dirty alpha which only had a couple of panels somewhat finished.

LEA also allows keyboard mapping and I had tried to configure my panels to use this function so that you wouldn't have to manually map each of the inputs (at least until I can figure out a proper way to distribute the mapping files along with the project) but I discovered a bug in the program - Windows keys do not map through so any control function that uses them in the keyboard combination would not work. Furthermore, in testing I discovered that some key combinations also pass through to Windows and I ended up with a lot of Windows Explorer windows opened up in the background. Ultimately this would cause DCS to crash. So I've gone back to the Joystick Button method for now.

In any case, keep watching here if you're interested in this project. In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy the video above if you haven't already done so.

Highspeed

P.S. It may take a while before the video is available to view so if it's not available, keep trying.

So it seems there is some sort of problem with the link embedded as a youtube item, so let me try just listing the link here. Hopefully this works out ok.

Highspeed

Nice idea thanks

I just fix your video for you :)

Nice idea thanks

I just fix your video for you :)

Outstanding! Thank youCibit. :)

Highspeed

Merry Christmas!!! A present...

Hey guys,

I just wanted to get something up here for you as a gift for the holidays. I present to you v0.2alpha of the LEA Extended Input panels for the DCS World Huey! This is a quick and dirty packaging and includes the following:

1. The project file

2. vJoy configuration description (.html files)

3. A basic "readme.txt" file

I did not go into extensive documentation at this time (it's still alpha) and this is not intended to provide a tutorial on LEA itself. You can visit their website (http://www.leaextendedinput.com) if you need assistance getting things going.

Some controls are done on a vJoy Axis and you'll need to assign them in the appropriate configuration screen of DCS World. Particularly, the lighting controls on the overhead console. You get true analog control of those lighting systems!

My hope is that this will enhance your simming experience in this wonderful aircraft. I had hoped to have a demo video done by this point but ran into some challenges getting one together. Being that I am out of town starting tomorrow, it will probably have to wait until I return next week. Perhaps a New Year celebration?!!!

In any case, let me know what you think and feel free to provide additional to help improve this project. Particularly in what I could include on the "Misc." page/screen - that is still very much a work in progress as you'll see.

At the bottom of each screen is a set of selection buttons to switch from screen to screen. I turned off the menu bar in all screens (except Misc.) to get more screen real-estate. Note, to exit the program you can either press the home key on your device or switch to the Misc. screen and select "Edit" then press "Exit Program" from there.

Screenshots:

And the project files for LEA:

DCSWorld2.0Huey_v0.2alpha.ppk.zip

Enjoy!

Highspeed

Does this work in 2.5

Hi I'm brand new, in fact this is my first post. Could you please tell me if this works in 2.5 and do I need to update any files.

Hi I'm brand new, in fact this is my first post. Could you please tell me if this works in 2.5 and do I need to update any files.

Highspeed has not been active on these forums since feb '17 . I'm sure his plug-in was written for DCS 1.5 . DCS 2.5 is a completely different animal , and i would be very surprised if it worked at all in the current version :(

Any update?It works?